AmpTweaker TightDrive Pro

The TightDrive Pro can be used from clean boost to overdriving an amp, or as a preamp into an effects return or power amp.

After introducing the popular TightMetal Pro™ and BigRock Pro distortion pedals in 2013/14, Amptweaker™ started working on the 2 button version of our popular TightDrive™. With its included Fat and Smooth switches, the TightDrive Pro™ can get all the familiar tones from our popular TightDrive pedal, and with the Gain switch turned OFF, transparent overdrive tones are plentiful. Here’s the default unity-gain transparent boost setting to use as a starting point:

Unlike most 2-button overdrive pedals with boost, the TightDrive Pro includes 2 Boost knobs, one before and one after the distortion…..so it’s easy to boost the gain AND volume, for the perfect solo tone. And per customer requests, the ‘Boost’ Volume control has also been tweaked to allow cutting of the volume when the Gain is boosted, so it’s easier to balance the volume. There’s also a Midboost button that works with the output Boost knob, to help solos cut through the mix.

The TightDrive Pro has a Smooth Edge switch which cuts the high end sizzle for a warmer edge or adds clarity when it’s OFF, depending on your perspective. There are also 2 Fat switches for the rhythm and/or Boosted tones to have a thicker attack with a bit more compression, by extending the lowend to a more normal range. The added three band EQ allows for much tonal variation, with its PlexEQ button for more traditional stack tone. A new ‘cleaner’ noise gate was developed for the TightDrive Pro, which is designed to reduce noise while maintaining the cleaner tones it’s capable of.

Amptweaker pedals are known for effects loops, and this one has 3: a universal loop, another active with the boost, and our popular SideTrak loop which activates when the pedal is OFF, to automatically shut off clean effects.

It can be used to add a compressor, chorus or chain of effects that only works when you play clean, or to switch to another distortion pedal to use for an alternate rhythm sound…all without having to hit more than one switch….it’s like having a built-in A/B box. A green LED alternates with the normal red one to indicate that the loop is active when the pedal is bypassed.

Another cool SideTrak trick is that if you only plug in the SideTrak Send, and don’t plug in the Return, then that Sent dry signal can be sent to another amp…..meaning you could have the TightDrive Pro driving your 412 halfstack while sending the clean tone to a Twin or some other clean amp. All this ability comes from two simple jacks on the side of the pedal!

A question we get a lot is, can the boost work by itself? No, the boost only works when the pedal is ON….and here’s why:

Since the boost has 2 boost knobs, one before the distortion and one after it. The gain boost is before and increases the distortion with only a little effect on the volume, while the Volume boost is after and increases the volume a lot. If the distortion circuit wasn’t in between, then the volume would jump very high and result in a boost for clean that didn’t make sense. The boost footswitch also turns on the boost loop, switches in a Mid-boost switch and a fat-switch underneath, and is EQ’ed to work right with this pedal…..if you tried to use it as a clean boost, it would sound too mid-range for most people.

This setup also makes it quicker to go from clean, crunch rhythm, to lead with only 1 click. If you’re on clean, you turn the pedal on to get crunch….but if you want to go from clean to lead, you preset the boost before you turn on the pedal. So it’s 1 click when you’re ready to go to a solo. If the boost worked separately like 2 pedals, then you’d have to hit 2 buttons to go from clean to boosted lead.